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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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The Pilgrim Fathers in Holland 



Their Condition, and their Relation to and Treatment by 
THE Authorities and the People, with Special 
Reference to the Proposed Monu- 
ment AT Delfshaven 



A Paper read before the New England Historic Genealogical 
Society, on March 4, i8gi 



BY 



WILLIAM C. WINSLOW, D.D., D.C.L, LLD. 



;- ?. s^^^ 



BOSTON AND CHICAGO 
Congregational SunlJag=*ci)ool anli ^ublts{)tng ^taxtiyi 



This paper was prepared to be read before the New England 
Historic Genealogical Society, and not for the press; but as that 
Society desires a copy for its archives, requests for its publication 
have come from various quarters, and as public attention is largely 
directed to the project of erecting a monument at Delfshaven, I 
willingly place the manuscript in the hands of the Congregational 
Sunday-School and Publishing Society. 

I would like to append many more footnotes and notes to further 
illustrate the subject, but my limited space, in a paper intended for 
the general reader, forbids the wish. 

W. C. W. 
Boston, March 18, 1891. 



The Pilgrim Fathers in Holland 



Their Condition, and their Relation to and Treatment by 
THE Authorities and the People, with Special 
Reference to the Proposed Monu- 
ment AT Delfshaven 



A Paper read before the New England Historic Genealogical 
Society, on March 4, i8gi 



/ 



BY 



WILLIAM C. WINSLOW, D.D., D.C.L., LLD. 




BOSTON AND CHICAGO 
Congregational SunJag^Scijool anH Publisfjtng SoctEtg 






Copyright, 1891, bt 
Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society. 



THE PILGRIM FATHERS IN HOLLAND. 



IN his discourse before the Massachusetts Historical 
Society at the celebration of the two huudredth anni- 
versary of the New England Confederation of 1648, John 
Quincy Adams remarks : •' The New England Confederation 
originated in the Plymouth Colony, and was probably sug- 
gested to them by the example which they had witnessed, 
and under which they had lived several years, in the 
United Netherlands." ^ 

In his diplomatic mission to England in 1635 to defend 
the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts against the 
accusations of Thomas Morton, and to represent to the 
government the encroachments of the Fi-ench and the 
Dutch, Edward Winslow seems to have had in mind some 
such union of the New England colonies, by his petition to 
the royal commission for a special warrant to the colonies 
" to right and defend themselves against all foreign 



enemies." 



The formation de facto of the New England Confederation 
was undoubtedly caused by the exigencies of the situation, 
the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven moving ear- 
nestly for it, through fear of the Dutch in the New Nether- 
lands ; but we may well believe that the valuable lesson of 
confederation as exemplified in Holland was not lost upon 
the New England colonies, especially upon Plymouth. To 
commemorate the wholesome lesson to the world and to 
our forefathers in particular, the toleration to the Pilgrims 
in the Netherlands denied them in England, and the noble 
lives of the Pilgrims in Holland, tablet and monument 
may fittingly perform a grateful office in Leyden and 
Delfshaven. 

1 See note A. 



To erect a monument is one thing : to suitably inscribe 
it is quite another matter. The inscription which records 
the events or circumstances of history, in connection with 
national or individual life, should be uninspired by fancy 
or uncolored by romance. For monumental history has a 
peculiar importance ; many, who seldom or never read a 
page of history, see the chiseled or cast inscription of 
a monument, be it in Lexington or Trafalgar Square or 
Leyden ; children often catch an enduring impression from 
a monumental record ; to the scholar and others who by 
research find an inscription untrue to history, the words 
hecome " as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." 

This paper is particularly prompted by an earnest and 
widely known project to erect at Delfshaven a monument 
of gratitude to the Dutch for their generous hospitality to 
our Pilgrim Fathers, and of our appreciation of both Dutch 
and their guests in Holland ; and also by criticisms of the 
project by eminent authorities. 

The Congregational Club of Boston adopted the resolu- 
tion, " that the club heartily approves of the erection of 
such a commemorative monument," with this preamble: — 

Whereas, Remembering the hospitality of the free republic of 
Holland so generously bestowed upon the Pilgrims, who, after 
twelve years' residence in Amsterdam and Leyden, sailed from 
Delfshaven on a voyage which was completed at Plymouth Rock, 
it is fitting that we, members of Congregational clubs throughout 
the United States, should unite in grateful recognition of Dutch 
hospitality, and at Delfshaven raise some durable token of our 
appreciation of both hosts and guests — calling upon all Ameri- 
cans who honor alike the principles and the founders of the two 
republics to join in the enterprise. Therefore be it, etc. 

In their circular the club state : " It is proposed to inter- 
est all societies and individuals in the enterprise ; " and in 
another circular, say, " All are invited to contribute. The 
amount needed is twenty-five thousand dollars — equal, it 
is believed by experts, to sixty thousand dollars when 
expended in materials upon the other side of the Atlantic." 



5 



The Connecticut Congregational Club, in an elaborate 
report through the chairman ^ of the committee to consider 
the project, say that "The Delfshaven monument postulates 
an historic error." The Congregationalist of November 6, 
1890, by the hand of a great authority in New England 
colonial history, — the late Rev. Henry M. Dexter, d.d., 
X.L.D., — declares : " We have no money to waste upon any 
monument, whether at Delfshaven or elsewhere, in com- 
memoration of a fanc}^ which is in the face of history." 

The Rev. Daniel Van Pelt, in The Christian Intelligencer 
of January 28, 1891, intmiates that Dr. Dexter should have 
taken to the scheme "with peculiar kindliness." But love 
for the Pilgrims or any race of heroes never historically 
blinds the true scholar in his researches after light upon 
disputed points in their lives or in the transactions of a 
nation. The most useful members of our historical societies 
are those rare spirits who are ready, if needs be, on behalf 
of accuracy to declare against their own inclinations. Such 
men represent the historic spirit in its highest embodiment. 

The Netherlands afforded a shelter from persecution to vari- 
ous sects when, in 1608, the Scrooby Indei^endents, under 
Rev. John Robinson, left England for Amsterdam. For 
political and commercial as well as religious reasons the Dutch 
government gladly received sturdy, industrious, law-abiding 
communities, and Protestant in faith, as desirable accessions to 
the population. When therefore the Pilgrims at Amsterdam, 
in 1609, applied to the municipal authorities of Leyden for 
permission to settle in that city, for the purpose of " carry- 
ing on their trades, without being a burden in the least to 
any one," their reply was as follows : "The court, in making a 
disposition of this present memorial, declare that they refuse 
no honest persons free ingress to come and have their resi- 
dence in this city, provided that such persons behave them- 
selves and submit to the laws and ordinances : and therefore 
the coming of the memorialists will be agreeable and 
welcome." 

' The Rev. Dr. G. L. Walker, of Hartford, in The Congregationalist of December 
25, 1890. 



Let us now revert to the Boston Congregational Club's 
preamble. It initially particularizes "the hospitality of the 
free republic of Holland so generously bestowed upon the 
Pilgrims " as a "fitting" reason why, "in grateful recogni- 
tion of Dutch hospitality," a monument should be placed 
at Delfshaven to show " our appreciation of both hosts and 
guests." Not merely " the hospitality," but the hospitality 
"so generously bestowed," is the keynote reason why not 
merely Congregational clubs, but Americans generally, are 
asked to unite in grateful recognition of what? — the thrift, 
sobriety, patriotic unity, religious character and life of the 
Pilgrims in Holland? No; but of "Dutch hospitality." 
Does, then, such a monument postulate an historic error? 
Is it a fancy wliich is in the face of history ? 

There does not appear to be the slightest proof that " the 
free republic of Holland," through its government, welcomed 
or favored our fathers in any way, intentionally or actually. 
The municipal permission to settle at Ley den is simply a 
civil answer in the affirmative to the respectful and not 
unusual request of a body of artisans to take up their abode 
in a city of the Netherlands. But did the people of Ley den 
exemplify "Dutch hospitality" in various substantial tokens 
of good will and friendly interest " generously bestowed 
upon the Pilgrims " ? With its manufactories and its bus- 
tling industries Leyden was indeed, as Governor Bradford 
puts it, one of those " fair and beautiful cities, flowing with 
abundance of all sorts of wealth and riches." It was the 
home of comfort and the seat of an already renowned uni- 
versity ; so that refinement, as well as religion, exerted its 
purifying influences upon the rich burgher or prosperous 
tradesman. Now, to quote the words of Governor Wins- 
low,i " considering, amongst many other inconveniences, how 
hard the country was where we lived, how many spent their 
estate in it and were forced to return to England," and con- 
sidering the worth of the Robinson company in character 
and example, a question suggests itself. Was not Leyden, 
from 1610 to 1620, just the place and time for the rich 

1 Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims, p. 381. 



reformers and others to exercise not only "Dutch hospi- 
tality," but Dutch piety, towards their "guests"? And 
what better people to bestow the proofs of their hospitality 
and piety upon than these Pilgrims, who, like themselves, 
had been baptized as it were in the fires of persecution ? 

If there be a shining characteristic in the entire Pentateuch 
of the little Pilgrim commonwealth, — from 1610 to 1630, — 
it is the manifestation of the spirit of thankfulness and 
gratitude, whether it be for a few kernels of corn to each 
person for dinner, or whether it be for the arrival of a ship 
with stores of food and news from the mother land. Did, 
therefore, the Leydenese lavish hospitality upon them, or do 
them special favors in business, in society, in a religious way, 
we may be sure that Bradford and Winslow, and the various 
letters from Robinson and his flock to the Plymouth people, 
would, to say the least, have recorded such good deeds. As 
we shall see, both Bradford and Winslow endeavor to show 
that the Pilgrims were held in high estimation by the occur- 
rences they recite to prove it. 

Let us turn to the historical argument. 

In 1627, when the question of Dutch encroachment upon 
the trade of New England stirred the little colony at Ply- 
mouth, which ardently wished, while maintaining its rights, to 
be at peace, Bradford and his council had some diplomatic 
dealings with the Dutch authorities in the New Netherlands 
(now New York), who made, interlarded with congratula- 
tory and adulatory phrases, propositions to trade and treat 
on other matters that were or might be in dispute. In their 
reply of March 19, the governor and council remark : " Yet 
are many of us further obliged by the good and courteous 
entreaty which we have found in your country ; having 
lived there many years, with freedom and in good content, as 
also many of our friends do to this day ; for which we and 
our ■ children after us are bound to be thankful to your 
nation, and shall never forget the same, but shall heartily 
desire your good and prosperity, as our own forever." ^ 

A few months later Isaac de Razier came to Plymouth on 

1 Massachusetts Historical Society, fourth series, iii, 224. 



8 

behalf of the Dutch settlers. Bradford's letter-book ^ says : 
" So, according to his request, we sent our boat for him, 
who came honorably attended with a noise of trumpeters." 
Whether " the noise of trumpeters " is meant as a bit of irony, 
to be taken in connection with the flattery of the previous 
communication from the Dutch, I know not ; but Bradford's 
letter to the Council of New England in London says : 
" The effect of their letters being friendly and congratula- 
tory, we answered them in like sort." We answered them in 
like sort ! 

There is nothing new under the sun, in the language of 
diplomacy. Bradford's comment on the proffers of trading 
and friendship is, " It was wholly sought of themselves," and 
again, " The which, though we knew it was with an eye to 
their own profit, yet we had reason both kindly to accept it 
and make use of it." Bradford wrote also to the Council 
in London : " For strength of men and fortification, they 
far exceed us, and all in this land." The superior power of 
the Dutch had its influence on the wise governor and his 
council in their diplomatic responses to their diplomatic 
overtures. 

The Rev. Dr. George L. Walker comments : " One might 
as well read the correspondence of Mr. Bayard and Lord 
Salisbury on the fisheries dispute in forgetfulness of its 
diplomatic character, as this correspondence between the 
governor of Plymouth Colony and the New Netherland 
authorities." The Rev. Dr. John A. Todd thinks the sen- 
tences referred to are, on Bradford's part, " unquestionably 
a grateful recognition of ' Dutch hospitality ' which the 
Pilgrims themselves deeply felt." Dr. Walker as heartily 
disapproves as Dr. Todd approves of a monument in recog- 
nition of Dutch hospitality.^ 

The pointed words of Winslow as to the hard condition 
of the fathers in Holland have been already quoted. Has 
Bradford a word on the brighter side? He says of their 
days at Amsterdam : " It was not long before they saw the 

1 Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. iii (year 1810), pp. 51-56. 

2 The Christian Intelligencer, January 21, February 11, 1891. 



Q 



grim and griselecl face of poverty coming on them like an 
armed man, with whom they must buckle and encounter, 
and from whom they could not fly." And with genuine 
Pilgrim pluck he adds: "But they were armed with faith 
and patience against him and all his encounters ; and though 
they were sometimes foiled, yet by God's assistance they 
prevailed and got the victory." ^ Of their settlement at 
Leyden in 1609, he says : " But being now here pitched, 
they fell to such trades and employments as they best could, 
valuing peace and their spiritual comfort above any other 
riches whatsoever : and at length they came to raise a 
competent and comfortable living, and with hard and con- 
tinual labor. Being thus settled, after many difficulties 
they continued many years in a comfortable condition, 
enjoying much sweet and delightful society and spiritual 
comfort together, in the ways of God." ^ 

It was in January, 1611, that Robinson and others pur- 
chased a " large " house at a cost of 13,200 ($800 " down " 
and !i>125 a year thereafter), in which Robinson was to live, 
and where he probably held services. The first five years in 
Leyden, when friends with their private means joined them 
from England, were doubtless less "hard" to the Pilgrims 
than the last five years in tliat city. Bradford specifies the 
reasons why the fathers sought to leave Holland ; with much 
candor he graphically records the arguments made against 
removal. Winslow, too, in his " Brief Narration," published 
in 1646, gives the causes for their emigration to New Eng- 
land. The testimony of these two men, as to the condition 
and life of the Pilgrims in Holland, is the most valuable 
that exists; indeed it is the testimony that does, or should, 
decide the points under discussion. Do either of them, in 
presenting the arguments for or against removing from Hol- 
land, furnish a single line to indicate that their little band 
in Leyden enjoyed a good measure of abundance or worldly 
prosperity ? Does Bradford, in a single instance, on behalf 
of those opposed to emigration, specify as one of their 
reasons that of plenty and contentment in Holland? The 

1 Young, p. 33. 2 Idem, 35. 



10 

let-well-enough-alone plea has always had weight when 
questions of innovation or change are discussed in society 
or at home. Those who argued against leaving Holland 
uttered their refrain in this fashion : " Also, the like pre- 
cedents of ill-success and lamentable miseries befallen others 
in like designs, were easy to be found and not forgotten to 
be alleged ; besides their own experience in their former 
troubles and hardships in their removal into Holland, and 
how hard a thing it was for them to live in that strange 
place, although it was a neighbor's country, and a civil and 
rich commonwealth." ^ They evidently had hesitated about 
jumping from the Dutch frying-pan into the fire, somewhere 
else, " The like precedents of ill-success " referred to were 
probably the failure of the colony planted near the mouth 
of the Kennebec in 1607, and the rather discouraging pro- 
gress of the settlements in Virginia. 

Despite such examples presented, and the depicted bar- 
barities of the Indians, such as the " flaying men alive with 
the shells of fishes, cutting off the joints and members of 
others by piecemeals, and broiling them on the coals, and 
causing men to eat the collops of their flesh in their sight 
whilst they live,"^ — despite all this a Pilgrim band was 
deliberately and harmoniously formed to leave Holland for 
a far-distant land. Bradford's memory of the day when 
they left the scenes of Leyden forever, and parted in sorrow 
at Delfshaven, finds expression in the sweet words, " They 
knew the}'' were Pilgrims, and looked not much on those 
things, but lifted up their eyes to heaven, their dearest 
country, and quieted their spirits." 

From Bradford's own summing up of the arguments, let 
us now present a few passages to show why the fathers left 
Holland: "And first, they found and saw b}'' experience the 
hardness of the place and country to be such, as few in com- 
parison would com.e to them, and fewer that would bide it 
out and continue with them. For many that came to them, 
a,nd many more that desired to be with them, could not 
endure the great labor and hard fare, with other incon- 

' Young, 50. 2 Idem, 49. 



11 

veniences, which they underwent and were contented with. 
... It was thought that if a better and easier place of 
living could be had, it would draw many and take away 
these discouragements ; yea, their pastor would often say 
that many of those that both writ and preached now against 
them, if they were in a place where they might have liberty, 
and live comfortably, they would then practice as they did. 

" 2. They saw that, although the people generally bore 
all their difficulties very cheerfully and with a resolute 
courage, being in the best of their strength, yet old age 
began to come on some of them ; and their great and con- 
tinual labors, with other crosses and sorrows, hastened it 
before the time ; so that it was not only probably thought, 
but apparentl}^ seen, that in a few years more they were in 
danger to scatter by necessity pressing them, or sink under 
their burdens, or both. 

" 3. . . . For many of their children, that were of best 
dispositions and gracious inclinations, having learned to bear 
the yoke in their youth, and willing to bear part of their 
parents' burden, were oftentimes so oppressed with their 
heavy labors that, although their minds were free and willing, 
yet their bodies bowed under the weight of the same, and 
became decrepit in their early youth ; the vigor of nature 
being consumed in the very bud, as it were." ^ Near the 
close of this remarkable chapter, based on which another 
Everett might vividly depict their pre-Mayflower hardships, 
he pointedly saj'^s of the fathers in Holland : " They lived 
here but as men in exile and in a poor condition." 

From the same unassailable authority one more selection, 
which relates to their spiritual estate : " PVjr many, though 
they desired to enjoy the ordinances of God in their purity, 
and the liberty of the gospel with them, yet, alas, they 
admitted of bondage, with danger of conscience, rather than 
to endure these hardships ; yea, some preferred and chose 
prisons in England rather than this liberty in Holland, with 
these afflictions." He perhaps recalled what he had said 
of their persecutions for conscience' sake in England : " For 

I Young, 45-47. 



12 

some were taken and clapped up in prisons, others had 
their houses beset and watched night and day, and hardly 
escaped their hands." ^ Is there not a plain implication 
that Independency, or, as we would now say, Congrega- 
tionalism, was unacceptable to the Reformed Church people 
in Leyden, and that some of the Robinson flock went so far 
as to say that they preferred an English prison to " this 
liberty in Holland, with these afflictions"? Bradford says, 
" chose prisons in England," but I think such " separatists " 
must have been the extremists only — such as would oppose 
many a service and practice of to-day in our Congregational 
churches as being formal or ritualistic. 

Did the larger half of the flock, which remained at Ley- 
den, fare better after the Pilgrims had gone ? The letter- 
book of Bradford, so far as I have examined it, indicates 
nothing of the kind. Not only are there no means to send 
as succor, but little means to enable those who wish to go 
to Plymouth to do so. Under date of November 30, 1625, 
Francis Jessop and others, writing to Biadford and Brews- 
ter of their longing to be reunited, say, "So see we no hope 
of accomplishing the same except it come from you. . . . 
For ourselves, we are minded, as formerly, to come unto 
you when and as the Lord affordeth means ; though we see 
little hope thereof at present, as being unable of ourselves, 
and that our friends will help us we see little hope."^ 

Thomas Blossom, on December 15, 1625, writes to Brad- 
ford of himself and others who had wished to remove to 
Plymouth: "For myself and all such others as have for- 
merly minded coming, it is much what the same, if the Lord 
afford means. ... If we come at all unto you, the means to 
enable us to so do must come from you." ^ 

Winslow writes of their final decision at Leyden : " And 
hereupon we came to this resolution. That it was best for 
one part of the church to go at first, and the other to stay, 
namely, the youngest and strongest part to go. Secondly, 
they that went should freely offer themselves. Thirdly, if 
the major part went, the pastor to go with them ; if not, the 

1 Young, 23 and 45. "- Idem, 487-8. » idem, 482. 



13 

elder only. Fourthly, if the Lord should frown upon our 
proceedings, then those that went to return, and the breth- 
ren that remained still there to assist and be helpful to 
them ; but if God should be pleased to favor them that 
went, then they also should endeavor to help over such as 
were poor and ancient and willing to come." 

Not one of the Pilg^rims returned in the Mavflower to 
their brethren at Leyden. In 1629-30, a large part of the 
remnant of the Pilgrims emigrated, in two parties, to Ply- 
mouth, which cost the Plymouth Colony, including their 
"keep" till they could support themselves, about <£1,000. 
" A few — there is some reason for including in the number 
Mrs. Robinson and several of her surviving children — grad- 
ually merged themselves in the Dutch church and commu- 
nity. By the year 1655 ... all traces of the presence of 
the Scrooby men disappear from Leyden records and 
history." ^ 

Were the fathers in Leyden worthy of sympathy and 
support? Thankful T am to be able to cull some brighter 
passages of their treatment from the Leydenese. Robert 
Baylie, of Glasgow, in his book, " A Dissuasive from the 
Errors of the Times," published in 1645, avers that the 
Dutch wearied of the Pilgrims, and that owing to the Pil- 
grims' disagreements the party was formed for emigration in 
1620. Winslow, after utterly denying such a statement, 
says : " For I persuade myself, never people upon earth 
lived more lovingly together and parted more sweetly than 
we, the church at Leyden, did." And Bradford, in refuting 
such slanders, says : " I will therefore mention a particular 
or two to show the contrary and the good acceptation they 
had in the place. And, first, although it was low with many 
of them, yet their word would be taken amongst the Dutch 
(either bakers or others) when they wanted money, because 
they had found by experience how careful they were to keep 
their word, and saw them so painful and diligent in their 
callings, that they strove to get their custom and to employ 
them above others in their work, for their honesty and dili- 

J Dr. Dexter, in The New England Magazine, September, 1889, p. 61. 



14 

gence. Again ; the magistrates of the city, about the time 
of their coming away, or a little before, in the public place 
of justice, gave this commendable testimony of them, in 
reproof of the Walloons, who were of the French church 
in the city. 'These English,' said they, 'have lived amongst 
us now this twelve years and yet we never had any suit or 
accusation come against [any of] them. But your strifes 
and quarrels are cc)ntinual.' " ^ 

Bradford assuredly puts the case as strongly as possible 
in his endeavor to show that the Dutch respected the Eng- 
lish colony, and, because of their honesty and diligence, 
employed them rather than others ; but how thankfully for 
the Pilgrims' sake would he embrace the opportunity to 
record any signal marks of favor from the merchants, magis- 
trates, or churches ! 

Robinson is also an important factor in our answer to the 
question we are now considering. Even Baylie, who so 
disparaged the Pilgrims, is constrained to admit that " Mas- 
ter Robinson was the most learned, polished, and modest 
spirit that ever that sect enjoyed." 

The American public to-day, I think the larger number of 
Congregationalists, are not fully aware of the debt of grati- 
tude Congregationalism owes to the chief scholar and 
spiritual head of the little band in Leyden. Had he come 
over in the Mayflower, the historical quartet would have 
been a quintet, and of Bradford, Winslow, Brewster, Standish, 
Robinson, the last would not have been the least. Perhaps 
he would have taken Brewster's place altogether ; for the 
executive, the diplomatic, the spiritual, and the martial 
needs — each and all essential to Plymouth — were repre- 
sented by Bradford, Winslow, Brewster, and Standish 
respectively. Had Robinson come over in the Mayflower, 
what brighter halos of glory would now be about his popular 
portrait? To me his historical likeness is enough — that of 
a man who did his duty in remaining at Leyden. Let the 
bronze tablet record his work, and New England's memory 
of his worth, and her debt to him. 

1 Young, 380 and 39. 



15 

Winslow, referring to his daily disputations in the acad- 
emy, in 1613, against Episcopius and others who supported 
Arminianism against Calvinism, says, " He had as great 
respect amongst them as any of their own divines." Brad- 
ford says : "• The Lord did so help him to defend the truth 
and foil his adversary, as he put him (Episcopius) to an 
apparent nonplus in this great and public audience. And 
the like he did two or three times upon such like occasions ; 
the which, as it caused many to praise God that the truth 
had so famous a victory, so it procured him much honor and 
respect from those learned men and others which loved the 
truth." ^ For Winslow, who joined the colony in 1617, 
the Pilgrims were in all probability indebted to Robinson's 
preaching and personal influence. Dr. Charles Deane 
truly 2 remarks that Winslow was " the most accomplished 
man " of the Plymouth Colony, and it requires no imagina- 
tion to understand how his intellectual and spiritual nature 
received impressions for life from such a powerful and 
cultivated mind and such a moral and spiritual hero. When 
they parted at Delfshaven, Robinson was forty-five years old, 
Winslow but twenty-six. 

How, long years after his revered teacher was in the 
grave, Winslow rejoiced, in his own moderation, to be able 
to write of him : " 'T is true, I confess, he was more rigid in 
his course and way at first than toward his latter end " ! 
And again : " I would have the reader take notice that, 
however the church of Leyden, differed in some particulars, 
yet made no schism or separation from the reformed 
churches, but held communion with them occasionally." ^ 

That Robinson did the Calvinistic party in the university 
and city a great and timely service is certain ; and probably 
on this account, as well as his scholarship and ability, he 
was admitted to the privileges of the university in 1615. 
One of the "privileges," having something of the flavor of 
a Puritan barn-raising or Pilgrim " nightcap " in " ye olden 
days " of New England, entitled him to receive, free of town 

1 Young, 41. 

2 Massachusetts Historical Society, fourth series, vol. iii, HI. 

3 Note B. 



16 



and state duties, every montli, half a tun of beer and every 
three months about ten gallons of wine.^ 

Winslow mentions an important event which bears directly 
upon our point, that Robinson is an important factor in the 
treatment the Pilgrims received. He says of Robinson : 
" When God took him away from them and us by death, 
the university and ministers of the city accompanied him 
to his grave with all their accustomed solemnities, bewailing 
the great loss that not only that particular church had, whereof 
he was pastor, but some of the chief of them sadly affirmed 
that all the churches of Christ sustained a loss by the death 
of that worthy instrument of the gospel." Mr. Sumner, 
who concludes, both from research and a personal study 
in situ, that the fathers were "far from experiencing any 
excess of kind attention and magisterial favor," discredits 
entirely Winslow's statement, just quoted. I am aware of 
Winslow's admiration for Robinson; that he was not present 
at the funeral ; that he must have received such information 
by letter or hearsay ; that he wrote twenty-six years after 
Robinson's death ; but, nevertheless, I cannot agree with 
Sumner, whose argument rests on the grounds chiefly that 
Bradford does not allude to it, and that a plague, then 
raging in Leyden, would have caused the suspension of all 
public funerals. But Bradford and Winslow do not both 
necessarily mention matters of interest, such as the "• large " 
house that Winslow denominates as Robinson's abode ; or 
of importance, such as the portions of Robinson's farewell 
sermon, alone reported by Winslow. The death of Robin- 
son occurred on March 1, the day of his funeral was on 
March 4, which indicates that there was no hasty interment ; 
moreover, Roger White writes to Bradford of Robinson's 
illness, which lasted eight days, that he ^ was free of the 
plague, so that all his friends could come freely to him." ^ 

I think it, therefore, no stretch of the imagination to sup- 
pose that the sorrow-smitten flock followed the precious 

1 On this anii other points see the valuable notes appended to " Memoirs of the 
Pilgrims at Leyden." By George Sumner. Cambridge, Mass. : Metcalf & Co.* 1845. 
Also published by Massachusetts Historical Society, third series, vol. ix. 

2 Young, 479. 



17 

remains of Robinson to their burial, and that in the train 
were members of the university, and ministers of the Re- 
formed churches in the city. Nor is it unlikely that " accus- 
tomed solemnities," in part at least, were performed, such as 
the appointment of pall-bearers, ritual, committal, etc. And 
why otherwise ? Robinson had espoused earnestly and tri- 
umphantly the Calvinistic cause; he was admired for his 
learning and ability ; the integrity, industry, religious life of 
his flock were seen and known of all. Why should not such 
respect have been paid to his memory? In showing, as 
Sumner concludes, that " the condition of the Pilgrims while 
in Holland was one of poverty and obscurity," he should not 
detract from a single one of the brighter passages in their 
biography as transmitted us by Bradford or Winslow. I 
think the positive words of the latter, with the qualifications 
which I have attached to them, quite conclusive. 

Only an affirmative answer can be given to our question, 
Were the fathers in Leyden worthy of sympathy and sup- 
port ? They were not only at peace and good will among 
themselves, but evinced a kindly fellowship towards the 
Reformed churches ; they were not only not " a burden in 
the least to any one," but a desirable addition to the bread- 
winning class of the city ; they not only did their artisan 
work well, but so well as to take precedence over other arti- 
sans about them ; they had not only a most capable and 
highly respected leader, but one who was so able as to render 
a distinguished service to the university and Calvinistic party ; 
they had not only been persecuted for liberty and conscience' 
sake, but the Netherlands, Leyden, their Reformed Church 
neighbors, had paid the same penalty, and as a logical and 
scriptural result (in connection with the foregoing circum- 
stances) a large practical sympathy and much favor should 
have been shown them by government, burgomasters, and 
neighbors. • 

The practical sympathy in any substantial form is not on 
record — how is it as to public favors ? No church or public 
place for worship was ever granted them, such as the con- 
temporaneous Presbyterian colony at Leyden, under Robert 



18 

Durie as pastor, had proviiptly conceded to them. Nor was 
Robinson's admission to the privileges of the university 
given till after a five or six years' residence : Durie arrived in 
1609, and on April 27, 1610, was admitted to the university. 

Dr. Dexter says that " during all of the residence of the 
Pilgrims in Holland the conduct of the Dutch government 
towards them was modified by its craven fear of offending " 
the English government. Dr. Walker says the conduct of 
the Dutch " was influenced by a craven fear of offending the 
English power." The chairman of the Boston Congregational 
Club committee, the Rev. Dr. W. E. Griffis, on this point 
remarks : " It may be that the Dutch government, in its un- 
equal contest with Spain, did try hard to keep the peace with 
England and avoid war with this Protestant nation." But 
the words of Bradford not only throw historical light upon 
this immediate point, but they show that of public favors 
there were none for the Pilgrims. In speaking of the people 
of Leyden and Robinson, he says : " Yea, so far were they of 
being weary of him and his people, or desiring their absence, 
as that it was said by some, of no mean note, that were it not 
for giving offence to the State of England, they would have 
preferred him otherwise, if he would, and allowed them some 
public favor. Yea, when there was speech of removal into 
these parts (Plymouth), sundry of note and eminency of 
that nation would have had them come under them ; and for 
that end made them lai'ge offers." Young's comment on 
these words of Bradford is incisive : " King James at this 
time exercised an unwarrantable influence in the Low Coun- 
tries, both in civil and ecclesiastical affairs. He drove 
Vorstius from his professorship at Leyden for his heresies, 
and labored to procure his banishment ; and prevented Ames 
from being elected to the same oftice." Palfrey judicially 
puts the case : " No public token of good will could be 
extended to them, for feai* of offence to the English govern- 
ment." 1 

The offers made to the colony to emigrate, to which Brad- 
ford alludes, came to them from Amsterdam merchants, 

I Palfrey, i, 142. 



19 

among others, who knew of their intention to leave Holland, 
but the government refused its protection. This straw but 
indicates the attitude of " the free republic " towards them, 
and, on the other hand, how high a respect the people had 
for their desirableness as colonists. 

The flight of Brewster indicates the kind of surveillance 
exercised over the Pilgrims by the state. For printing and 
publishing non-conformist books ^ he fled for safety to some 
hiding place in England, where he remained in concealment 
or privacy till the departure for Plymouth. Sir Dudley 
Carleton, the English ambassador at The Hague, informed 
his government that the Dutch officer had arrested a man 
named Brewer for the offence ; but it was found that 
Brewer had furnished the means for printing the books, and 
accordingly he was sent under arrest to England. Had 
Brewster stayed in Leyden he would have had an oppor- 
tunity to compare the " hospitality " of a Dutch jail with 
that of the jail into which he was once " clapped up " in 
Lincolnshire, and again into which he would have been 
"clapped up" in England had he been in Brewer's place. 

The extortionate terms which the Pilgrims were compelled 
to make with the merchant adventurers in London is a mat- 
ter of familiar history, into whose details we need not enter. 
The English company knew their straits, and made the bond 
accordingly ; but it is not refreshing to read that it was a 
society " aiming to do good, and to plant religion." ^ Pal- 
frey remarks of the transaction with the Pilgrims, that " the 
hardship of the terms to which they were reduced shows 
at once the slenderness of their means and the constancy of 
their purpose." This pecuniary weakness in the perform- 
ance of the greatest event of their lives — an event without 
which there would have been no historical Mayflower and 
Plymouth Rock — casts unfortunately a too true shadow 
upon their condition in Leyden. 

The heroic devotion of the Pilgrims to a principle caused 
them to leave their own loved land for a land of strangers, 

1 Titles mentioned in Young, 467. 

- Some of the mercliants were, or became, very friendlj- to the colony, and a few of 
them joined it. 



20 

and then, to some extent, it impelled them to seek for a 
home in the wilderness. No record of the Pilgrims in 
printed page, or on inscribed shaft at Leyden, can justly 
leave blank their heroic superiority to adverse circumstances 
in Holland, as well as on "the Mayflower of a forlorn hope," 
and on " the ice-clad rocks of Plymouth." The heroism of 
the Pilgrims from 1620 to 1630 had its schooling from 1610 
to 1620. 

This consideration of direct and indirect contemporaneous 
evidence, which throws light upon the condition of the Pil- 
grims in Holland, is an historical investigation irrespective 
of our national friendship for the Dutch nation in the past, 
for the Dutch people of to-day, and for the Reformed 
Church of our land. The Reformed Churchman of New 
York, who writes a history of Massachusetts Bay Colony, 
does not love the Boston Congregationalist of to-day the 
less when he sketches the enormities of legally executing 
so-called witches. Nor should our consideration of how the 
fathers fared in Holland be decided by our own exalted 
appreciation of them. Could they speak, they too would 
wish their life in Leyden commemorated as it was, and not 
as we might wish it had been there. 

Let us make a parallel illustration : A band of Russian 
refugees settle in New England in 1891. Early next 
century they remove to some distant land, where, two or 
three centuries later, they become a strong nation. They 
honestly lived, honorably earned their bread in New Eng- 
land. Moreover, they had a shelter, as a body, from Russian 
persecution. They saw in New England the blessings of 
freedom and education and a free gospel, and they applied 
the example in building up themselves into a nation. Now, 
in the year 2162, some of their number propose to erect in 
New England a monument, stating as the preamble to their 
resolution : " Whereas^ 'Remembering the hospitality of the 
free republic of the United States so generously bestowed 
upon" our ancestors, "who, after twelve years' residence in" 
New England, " sailed from " Boston, etc. But others among 



2] 

them, revering equally the memory of their fathers, ask for 
evidence of any special favor shown the fathers by the great 
American republic, such as other refugees from over the 
ocean did not freel}^ receive. They ask if their ancestors 
did not earn their livelihood, and then their right, under its 
laws, to live in a land often described by its writers as an 
"asylum for the oppressed"? They think that the statement 
as to a monument, so historic in its character, should not 
postulate an historic error, but have a true historic basis. 

It is of the highest importance that this enterprise be 
truly catholic and national : that not only the Boston and 
the Connecticut Congregational clubs, but all Congregation- 
alists, and all admirers of the Pilgrim Fathers, may heartily 
approve of a monument, and many of them subscribe for 
it. The fathers! indebtedness to the Dutch — for toleration 
in Holland denied them in England, and for the valuable 
example of confederation — their unity, constancy, integ- 
rity, piety ; their persistent purpose to sail for New England 
and its resolute execution, notwithstanding the obstacles 
which confronted them and the sacrifices demanded ; these 
historical facts unitedly form material for a resolution, to 
which all who venerate the memory of the Pilgrim Fathers 
will add a hearty amen ! 

The proposed tablet to Robinson, the Pilgrim leader in 
Holland, should be placed on the wall of the church, 
beneath which were placed his remains. I believe some 
site near his house to be the spot, before all others in 
Holland, where should stand the chief monument to the 
Pilgrims. For here was the center of the scenes of their 
trials and rejoicings together in that land. The rock on 
which they first stepped when Plymouth had been chosen 
for their future home is not the site of the monument at 
Plymouth. Where their feet last pressed Dutch soil need 
not be designated for the elaborate memorial to commemo- 
rate their life in the Netherlands. At Delfshaven let some 
simpler remembrance, in stone and bronze, mark the place of 
the final departure of the Pilgrim Fathers — that farewell 
parting of brethren in " such love as indeed is seldom found 



22 

on earth " — of which one who sailed wrote with a pathos 
and a piety that stirs our souls to-day : — 

" And when the ship was ready to carry us away the 
brethren that stayed having again solemnly sought the Lord 
with us and for us, and we further engaging ourselves mutu- 
- ally as before, they, I say, that stayed at Leyden feasted us 
that were to go at our pastor's house, being large ; where 
we refreshed ourselves, after tears, with singing of psalms, 
making joyful melody in our hearts, as well as with the 
voice, there being many of the congregation very expert in 
music ; and indeed it was the sweetest melody that ever 
mine ears heard. After this they accompanied us to Delph 
Haven, where we were to embark, and there feasted us 
again ; and after prayer performed by our pastor, where a 
flood of tears was poured out, they accompanied us to the 
ship, but were not able to speak one to another for the 
abundance of sorrow to part. But, we only going aboard, 
we gave them a volley of small shot and three pieces of 
ordnance, and. so, lifting up our hands to each other, and our 
hearts for each other to the Lord our God, we departed, and 
found his presence with us in the midst of our manifold 
straits he carried us through." 

Was it in simple faith, or in prophetic vision, or both, that 
this writer, mindful of their trials at Leyden and Plymouth, 
yet rejoicing in hope, concluded his " Brief Narration " of 
these things in words most marvelously fulfilled ? Said he : 
"None will ever be losers by following us so far as we 
follow Christ. Which that we may do, and our posterities 
after us, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our 
Father accept in Christ what is according to him ; discover, 
pardon, and reform what is amiss amongst us ; and guide us 
and them by the assistance of the Holy Ghost for time to 
come, till time shall be no more ; that the Lord our God 
may still delight to dwell amongst his plantations and 
churches there by his gracious presence, and may go on 
blessing to bless them with heavenly blessings in these 
earthly places, that so by his blessing they may not only 
grow up to a nation, but become exemplary for good unto 
others." 



23 

The lofty spirit of the Pilgrims, displayed from the day of 
their persecution in England till the foundations of Ply- 
mouth were securely laid, — so triumphant in trials and earthly 
separations, — has built them their monument in the hearts 
of their posterity forever. The visible effects of that spirit 
in our New England of this century inspired Webster to 
begin his oration at Plymouth with the words : " Let us 
rejoice that we behold this day." 



24 

NOTE A. 

" This measure, the scheme of which had perhaps been derived from the Con- 
federacy of the Low Countries, had been conceived several years before." — 
Palfrey, i, 623. 

" By reason of the plottings of the Narragansetts (ever since the Pequot War) 
the Indians were drawn iuto a general conspiracy against the Englisli . . . which 
made them enter into this more near union and confederation following." — 
Bradford's History of Plymouth Colony, in Massachusetts Historical Society, 
fourth series, vol. iii, 416. 

" Winthrop tells us in his journal of August 31, 1637, that ' some of the magis- 
trates and ministers of Connecticut being here, there was a day of meeting 
appointed to agree upon some articles of confederation.' " — Life and Letters of 
John Winthrop, p. 285. 

Rev. Dr. George L. Walker, in a note to me, remarks of the confederation : 
" It started with the western colonies and grew out of their natural fear of 
Dutch encroachments, isolated as they were from the stronger provinces on the 
eastern coast. I am open to light ; but the natural exigencies of the situation 
rather than any remembrance of Netherland experiences seem to me the ade- 
quate explanation of the origin of the New England Confederacy." 

NOTE B. 

" For his doctrine, I living three years under his ministry before we began the 
work of plantation in New England, it was always against separation from 
any of the churches of Christ; professing and holding communion both with 
the French and Dutch churches, yea, tendering it to the Scotch also . . . ever 
holding forth how wary persons ought to be in separating from a church, and 
that till Christ the Lord departed wholly from it man ought not to leave it, only 
to bear witness against the corruption that was in it." — Brief Narration. 
[Young, 888.] 

WORKS CONSULTED. 

Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims. 

Bradford's History of Plymouth Colony (Mass. Hist. Soc. Collect.). 

Winslow's Brief Narration (Young). 

Sumner's Memoirs of the Pilgrims at Leyden. 

Ashtou's Works of John Robinson. 

Palfrey's History of New England. 

Bancroft's History of the United States. 

Morton's New England Memorial. 

Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts. 

Winthrop's Life and Letters of John Winthrop. 

Prince's Annals. 

Brodhead's History of the State of New York. 

Baylie's Historical Memoir of the Colony of New Plymouth. 

Neal's History of New England. 

Hubbard's History of New England. 

Belknap's American Biography. 

Hazard's Historical Collections. 

Purchas' His Pilgrimes. London, 1625. 



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